The impact of mental health on driving: Gulf health warnings and safety tips
The Gulf Health Council, in its latest guidelines, emphasized that mental health is just as important as physical health when it comes to road safety, explaining that mental and emotional state directly and significantly impacts an individual's ability to make sound decisions while driving. This warning highlights an often-overlooked aspect that can put the lives of drivers and other road users at serious risk.
The psychological and mental context of the leadership process
Driving is a complex cognitive process requiring high-level coordination between the senses, brain, and limbs. Historically, road safety campaigns, both globally and locally, have focused on physical aspects such as vehicle maintenance and traffic laws. However, recent studies have demonstrated that the "human factor," specifically psychological state, plays a pivotal role in accidents. Psychological stress acts as a powerful internal distraction, competing with attention to the road. This can cause a sad or angry driver to react in a manner similar to a drunk or phone-distracted driver.
How do emotions interfere with leadership skills?
The Gulf Health Council has broken down the impact of negative emotions and stress on leadership into four main areas:
1. Diminishing (tunnel) vision
When a driver is under psychological stress, they may experience what is known as "tunnel vision," where the brain focuses on the psychological problem, leading to difficulty in side vision and impaired perception of depth and distances, which obstructs the view of cars coming from the sides.
2. Delay in observation and reaction
Safe driving depends on making split-second decisions. Stress consumes brain energy, reducing accuracy and control, and leading to delayed braking or sudden swerving.
3. Lack of anticipation of dangerous situations
The road is a constantly changing environment. A distracted driver loses the ability to "drive defensively" and anticipate the mistakes of others, which may lead him to make dangerous decisions such as speeding unconsciously.
4. Road Rage
This is one of the most dangerous outcomes, as repressed anger leads to exaggerated reactions and aggressive behavior towards other drivers, increasing the likelihood of fatal accidents.
The importance of psychological awareness in traffic safety
This clarification is of paramount importance at both the local and regional levels, particularly in the Gulf countries, which, within their development visions (such as Saudi Vision 2030), seek to enhance quality of life and reduce traffic accident rates. The mental health of drivers is a fundamental pillar for reducing fatalities and injuries, which positively impacts public health and the national economy by minimizing the waste of human and material resources.
Strategies for dealing with stress while driving
To ensure a safe journey, the council offered a range of practical solutions to reduce stress:
- Breathing techniques: Focus on slow, deep breathing through the nose, holding the air for a few seconds, then exhaling through the mouth to calm the nervous system.
- Thought management: Trying to replace negative thoughts with positive ones and banishing worrying thoughts while driving.
- Positive interaction with the environment: Trying to enjoy the details of the road and the surrounding scenery instead of focusing on traffic jams or personal problems.
